Policymakers and the public are increasingly concerned about the payoff students and taxpayers receive from government subsidies for postsecondary education. This concern has led advocates and policymakers to call for stronger quality assurance policies for colleges and universities. Past efforts to enact quality assurance policies have focused on…

Recent higher education accountability policies and proposals have often linked programs' or institutions' federal aid access to students' postcompletion earnings. But proposals differ regarding when to measure earnings. Policymakers may want to know how fast earnings typically grow and when in an individual's career earnings growth rates change.…

This brief illustrates that while many borrowers in IDR [income-driven repayment] will repay their loans in full, those who do receive a discharge of remaining debt after 20 or 25 years of responsible payments may face an unaffordable tax liability because these discharged amounts are treated as taxable income under current law.

This report looks at the education and work outcomes of a national sample of bachelor's degree recipients four years after they earned their degrees. The findings are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20). This summary report presents selected findings from the full report including enrollment…

Current assessments of college value fall short of centering race in its measurements by ignoring the unique economic conditions students of color face. To support ongoing advocacy for equitable investments in both students of color and institutions serving the largest shares of racially marginalized students, in its latest analysis, The Institute…

This report and the accompanying interactive web tool are a first step toward helping students sort through the 37,000 programs in the College Scorecard data to learn which programs offer a pathway to good earnings and which threaten more debt. Part 1 examines earnings differences across different institutions. Just as there is overlap in…

This summary report presents selected findings from the full report which describes the experiences of 2015-16 bachelor's degree earners during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 4 years after graduation. The findings in this report are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20), which took place…

This brief uses administrative data provided on the Baccalaureate and Beyond and Beginning Postsecondary Students data sets to examine student loan repayment over time. Specifically, we provide descriptive details on what differentiates borrowers in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans and explore the relationship between these plans and short-term…

This First Look presents selected findings on the work and life experiences of recent bachelor's degree earners before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings in this report are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20), which took place in 2020. B&B:16/20 is the second follow-up in a…

Given the facts that women still earn significantly less than men, that most American students rely on loans to attend college, that tuition in higher education has increased, and that women have to take more students loans than men, can we still claim that we are closing the gender gap? Do females have more burdens to pay off their student loans…

This report looks at the education and work outcomes of a national sample of bachelor's degree recipients four years after they earned their degrees. The findings are based on data from the 2016/20 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:16/20). B&B:16/20, which took place in 2020, is the second follow-up in a national study of…

American students graduate from college with tens of thousands of dollars in debt, leading to substantial repayment burdens and potentially inefficient shifts in spending patterns and career choices. A political trend towards austerity coupled with the rising student debt make the effective allocation of federal higher education resources and…

As of May 2013, total outstanding student loan debt in the United States had reached $1.2 trillion, up from $1 trillion fewer than 18 months before. The growth in debt is due primarily to increases in both the rate of borrowing and the average amount borrowed, especially among graduates of 4-year institutions. In 1989-90, about half (51 percent)…

Student loans can be a good investment in an individual's future, providing financial access to higher education and improved chances of economic success after college. However, avoiding undue financial obligations and maximizing the return on investment require careful planning and prudent borrowing. Estimating whether the student loan debt…

College tuition and student debt levels have been increasing at a fast pace for at least two decades. These well-documented trends, coupled with an economy weakened by a major recession, have raised serious questions about whether the market for student debt is headed for a crisis, with many borrowers unable to repay their loans and taxpayers…